WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) -- Four GOP lawmakers from central Wisconsin met at 25-10 Restaurant in Wausau to announce their plan for a middle-class income tax cut, one of the promises of Democratic Governor Tony Evers during his campaign.
Representative Pat Snyder of Schofield says it's their way of trying to meet the Governor in the middle on the issue. "We wanted to make sure Governor Evers was able to cover his campaign promise, but not at the expense of raising taxes on our agriculture and manufacturers," said Snyder. He added that the proposal is one way that the Repbulcian-Controls Assembly and Senate want to work with Evers. "It meets the goal of $340 million that [Evers] wanted for tax cuts. If he disagrees with this or doesn't want it, it kind of points to he does want to raise taxes," added Snyder.
If the plan is implemented as presented, taxpayers would see the break beginning in 2020. As of Thursday evening, Evers had not released an official statement on the plan, but a spokesperson for his office said the plan does fall short of what he was expecting. Evers had proposed paying for the tax cuts by rolling back a manufacturing and agricultural tax credit. Thursday's proposal uses some of the current budget surpluses to cover the breaks.
When asked if he was concerned over the stability of that solution, Snyder said there's not much to worry about as long as farmers and manufacturers are allowed to continue growing. "Hopefully our economy will continue. We are below 3% unemployment, we need bodies, and with that momentum going we will see surpluses every year."
Add into that the record-high rainy day fund the state has built and Snyder says it's about time that the people start keeping more of their money thanks to the fiscal responsibility of the state. "Look back to 2010, we had 9% unemployment and a 3.5 billion deficit. Now, we have 3% unemployment and a $588 million surplus."
Snyder was joined by Marshfield's John Spiros, Scott Krug of Nekoosa, and Stratford's Bob Kulp for Thursday's announcement. Republican leaders held other news confrefcs to announce the plan at other locations statewide including one in Madison with House Speaker Robin Vos.
